Mission Kashmir: A travelogue

To have a feel of winter in Kashmir is entirely a different experience especially for the ones who are seeing snow for the first ti me. We got an itinerary planned for 4 days stay at Srinagar. It was last week of February and as we stepped out of the flight, the freezing cold breeze gave a first hand feel of the spine chilling experience, which we were going to face during the sojourn. We had stock of enough winter clothes piled up in our baggage so as to counter the alien climatic conditions. The temperature outside was around 5 degree C .

On the first day we visited the Mughal gardens, Shalimar Bagh and Nishant Bagh. These gardens were built by the Mughal emperor Jahangir for his queen Nur Jahan in the year 1619. The Baghs are considered to be the epitome of Mughal horti culture. Shalimar Bagh has a terraced architecture and an axial canal which runs from the top to the lowest point.

The garden is linked to the Dal Lake through this canal. The best ti me to pay a visit to this garden is during the autumn or spring. It is during this time the garden is at its picturesque best due to the colour change in the leaves of the famed Chinar trees. On the way to the garden, our guide pointed to us the Char Chinar, which is an island in the Dal Lake. It is called so because of the four beauti ful chinar trees on the island. As it was winter, those trees didn’t bear any leaves.

Next day we moved on to visit Pahelgam, the ‘Valley of Shepherds’. It is about 95km towards west of Srinagar. Pahelgam is the entry point to the famous Holy Cave of Amernath. Enroute Pahelgam one can see Asia’s biggest Saffron fields. The roads leading to Pahelgam provide a very common sight of local shopkeepers selling pure Saffron (kesar) culti vated from their fields.

One of the shopkeepers there greeted us with Kesar-tea as a welcome drink. We purchased dry fruits and Saff ron from one of those shops. After having our bodies rejuvenated with kesar ka tea, we resumed our journey to reach the base of the mountain. The very first sight of snow all around us made us spell bound. As soon as we parked our car, the “gode waalas” came with the horses to take us atop. We had to bargain to fix the deal and started out on the horses after playing in the snow. We started our hike and it began snowing and it continued through out the climb. The horses took the much treaded muddy path on the snow clad mountains amidst the Pine and the Cedar trees. Snow fall which continued didn’t allow us to take snaps owing to poor visibility and the fear of snow wetting the lens. Two men who followed us with the horses stopped the ride in front of a valley for which I fall short of words to explain its breath taking views. Except for the presence of Santa and stars, the valley with its snow capped Pine trees made us feel like we reached some foreign nation to celebrate Christmas. Then we moved to the meadows of Baisaran. They call it the ‘Mini Switzerland’. It is a wonderful place to play with snow. We decided to descent after an hour of playing in the snow and making a snow-man, as our limbs started to become numb. Descending the hill felt more dangerous, as the path was covered with heavy snow and some places were slippery. To our big relief, the horses knew the way well enough to avoid such places. It took us about an hour to reach the base and we ran into the car and put on the heater.

Next day we proceeded to Gulmarg, which literally means the Meadow of Flowers. This hill resort is located in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir and it is about 55km southwest of the city of Srinagar. Originally called Gaurimarg by shepherds, this place was discovered by Sultan Yusuf Shah in the 16th century who was inspired by its grassy s l o p e s covered with wild flowers. But in winter it is hard to find any greenery once you r e a c h the top. Gulmarg is also famous for its premier ski resort of the country. We hired long boots and woolen jackets from Tanmarg which is the base of Gulmarg (Gulmarg is about 13km away from Tanmarg). As the road was wrapped with snow, we had to take metal chain for winding on the rear wheel to provide extra grip on the road. Our Scorpio took a single chain, but found it difficult to climb up the slippery road. We finally stopped the vehicle and walked for about a kilometer to reach the top. We took four sledges and decided to move to the place of Skiing. We had to bargain heavily to get the sledges for a fair deal and which I still feel was more! The snow clad peaks and the lovely landscapes have provided background for several Bollywood movies. We asked our guide to take us to the Govt. Ski shop. Though he refused initially, he succumbed to our pressure finally. The govt. shop offer Ski pads at the rate of Rs.300/- for the full day. We took one guy as a trainer as it is a bit difficult to put on the Ski shoes. Beginners route are available for the amateurs, which are less steep and safe. The ski area had a good crowd of Indian and foreign nationals. We did skiing for an hour and decided to start back as it was snowing heavily. We went back on the sledges and reached our car. On the way back to hotel we decided to taste the Kashmiri special non-veg dish, “the Waswaan “ which are meat balls made of mutt on. We went to Hotel Mughal Durbar and ordered the dish where we came to know that it is a general name and there are so many varieties available in Waswaan. We enjoyed the Rista- Waswaan with Kashmiri Pulav.

On day three, we moved our luggage to the house boat where we had planned to stay. House boats in the Dal Lake are stationary unlike the house boats in the back waters of Kerala. Small boat called “Shikara” is used as a main mode of transport and tourism in the Dal Lake. In the 17th century, the Mughal emperor Jahangir rightly said while living in a house boat in the mesmerizing Dal Lake, “If there is ever a heaven on earth, it is here!”.We proceeded for a Shikara ride aft er keeping the luggage in the boat. Vendors with variety stuff s row along with our Shikara to sell Kashmiri dry fruits, pearls, saff ron, jewelry etc. Moreover the view of Gulmarg, Sri Sankaracharya temple, Akbar Fort and other snow capped peaks from the Dal Lake is awesome. Aft er an hour’s ride in the Dal Lake we took a stroll in the Lal Chowk to do shopping. Shops in Lal Chowk display wide variety of Kashmiri items like carpets, woolen dress and dry fruits. Later in the evening we moved back to our house boat. Stay in Kashmir is incomplete without a house boat stay. Boats provide fi ve star accommodati on with beautiful, decorati ve interiors furnished extravagantly giving a plush feeling. And the most attractive feature of the house boat is its heater system which is basically a fire pot with wood burning inside. Pipes carry the smoke outside so as to avoid suffocation. A warm stay after two nights of the cold winter was a real welcome. Dinner was arranged in the house boat.

After a wonderful stay in the house boat, we kissed good bye to Kashmir valley with lots of beauti ful thoughts and memories.